1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of fishing rod carriers intended for use with motor vehicles and more particularly, to a fishing rod caddy for supporting a plurality of fishing rods in a horizontal position in the bed of a pickup truck, where the rod caddy may be easily installed in the truck bed via a simple and easy to use mounting device which attaches the caddy to one of the walls of a pickup truck's bed.
2. Background of the Invention
When a fisherman travels from his home to a lake, stream, beach or other place where he plans on fishing, one of his concerns is for the protection of his fishing equipment which includes his rods and reels. When a fishing rod is designed such that it may be broken down into multiple sections, then transport of the rod presents little difficulty. However, some styles of fishing rods are not designed to be broken down. Fly fishing rods for example are often designed as a “one-piece” rod as it is believed by many fisherman that a one-piece rod provides for a better feel while casting and fishing. Other types of rods, such as surf casting rods are inherently long. Surf casting rods are typically 12 to 14 feet in length and while surf casting rods are often designed as two-piece rods, their length even when broken down still present difficulties in transportation.
A wide variety of fishing rod holders have heretofore been designed for pickup trucks and other automobiles. With regard to pickup trucks, many of these devices are designed to be attached to the vehicle's front or rear bumper. Bumper mounted rod racks have several disadvantages. They typically employ a complicated, cumbersome attachment means for attaching to the bumper and each rod is typically held in a vertical or near vertical position creating substantial wind drag as well as jolting and bending of the rods which may lead to damage to the rods.
With regard to non-pickup truck passenger vehicles, i.e. cars, rods are frequently mounted to a roof rack. Roof racks too have inherent disadvantages. In particular, roof racks typically employ complicated mechanisms that allow the racks to attach to the rain gutter or window channel of the car. Roof racks are often time consuming to mount and remove. Although roof-rack style rod holders typically hold fishing rods in a horizontal position which respect to the roof of the car, the rods being mounted high up on the vehicle's roof are placed in the slipstream of the car and frequently accumulate excessive road grime during the journey from a fisherman's home to the place where he plans to fish. Roof racks being located on the top of a vehicle are also cumbersome to load and unload with fishing rods. Roof racks also subject the rods to the possibility of contacting low-hanging tree branches or other shrubbery adjacent to and over the roadway.
As discussed many fishing rod racks or holders which are removably attachable to vehicles exist in the art, all of which suffer from numerous drawbacks. With regard to pickup trucks, there exists a need in the art for a fishing rod caddy (or rack or holder) that is removably mountable to the bed of a pickup truck and which securely holds the rods in a horizontal position such that the rods will be free from bending loads created by wind resistance and otherwise free from undue jostling during transport. Ideally, the fishing rod caddy will also place the rods at a height in the bed that shelters the rods from the air slipstream created when the pickup truck is under way.